SDG&E has agreed to pay the city of San Diego $27 million to settle claims relating to the 2007 wildfires.

The settlement, announced Tuesday, is the latest in a string that the utility will have paid, without admitting liability. SDG&E has so far paid more than $1.5 billion to insurance companies, individuals and governmental entities.

“This is a fair settlement of the city’s claims and avoids years of additional litigation, including a trial and appeals,” City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said.

A spokeswoman for Goldsmith said the money will be placed in the city’s general fund, which is used to pay for day-to-day operations.

SDG&E spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan said the utility will seek to recover the settlement and associated legal costs from its customers. “We will seek rate recovery at some point,” she said.

Passing city settlement costs on to ratepayers requires California Public Utilities Commission approval, a process that would be streamlined significantly under a pending request by SDG&E for a dedicated wildfire expense balancing account.

The settlement announced Tuesday resolves all remaining 2007 fire claims between SDG&E and government agencies. More than 900 other lawsuits are still in progress against the utility.

Two state investigations concluded SDG&E equipment, and to a lesser degree Cox Communications, caused the Witch Creek/Guejito fire and the Rice Canyon fire.

Thousands of lawsuits were filed in the aftermath. The majority have been settled, however, many more remain, mostly involving individuals, that could eventually result in one or more trials in the years to come.

The city sued the utility to recover damages — money lost — for such expenses as fire emergency response, loss of lease revenue, damage to city structures, including the city’s reservoir, and ecological/habitat damage.

The Witch Creek fire began in the early afternoon of Oct. 21, 2007, when sparking power lines ignited brush in a remote area southwest of Santa Ysabel during fierce Santa Ana winds that lasted for days. The Guejito fire began about 12 hours later in the San Pasqual Valley, also caused by sparking power lines, according to investigators, and eventually merged with the Witch Creek blaze. Early in the morning of Oct. 22, those fires burned into Rancho Bernardo.

The county settled with SDG&E for $24.5 million in December, and other settlements with various agencies, including Cal Fire, occurred earlier.

Claims by individual home and business owners who lost property or business during the fires were still being made as of last month, however the filing period has now ended.

In a joint statement, SDG&E and the city said they agree the settlement “fairly resolves the litigation between them and that it is in the best interest of both parties and the public.”

The utility has conceded its equipment started the blazes but has not legally admitted wrongdoing.

“This Agreement does not constitute, and shall not be deemed to constitute or imply, an admission or concession of any fact in issue in any pending or threatened civil litigation, or any liability or obligation whatsoever,” the settlement states.